Reading Memories
by BonesBird
Summary: Captain Kathryn Janeway gets the opportunity to share the memoirs of one of her idols, Admiral Erika Hernandez, with one of her junior officers. Threeshot.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello friends. For the first time in a long time I'm posting something here before it is posted on AO3. As you have clearly seen. This is a crossover story, it ties in to my Romulan War ENT series. The first 2 chapters are both set on Voyager during or just after "Good Shepherd", the last chapter is set on Andoria in 2170. Please read and review. I haven't written any Voyager for such a long time so... I apologise for any discrepancies. **

**Shin x**

* * *

They'd only left Voyager an hour earlier, and this early into the mission they were just calmly observing. Captain Janeway took this opportunity to pull her PADD out and continue reading. When she felt like it, reading the memoirs of the early captains was something she loved to do, Shran of Andoria, V'Los of Vulcan, and the early Starfleet Captains, Archer, Duvall, Robinson. And her personal favourite. Erika Hernandez. She had read Hernandez's probably a dozen times, but she still was never bored of it. She found a new detail every time. That's what she was searching for when a voice broke her from her bubble. "Captain, what are you reading?"

She held the PADD up and smiled, she knew the chapter she was on by heart, so she didn't mind being interrupted so much. "Admiral Hernandez's memoirs."

"Who?" Tal asked, slipping into the co-pilots chair. It was quiet in the Flyer, not that Janeway was going to complain about that. She enjoyed the quiet, but she also liked to teach, if she was given the opportunity, and it seemed she'd have it now.

"Admiral Erika Hernandez." Janeway clarified, and when Tal still looked at her blankly Janeway continued. "She was the first female Starfleet chief of staff, and the second deep space Captain. Her achievements are often overlooked because of who she married."

Tal blinked a few times, clearly learning more about someone she'd never heard of than she'd intended, but Janeway had a captive audience, so she was going to speak. "Who?"

"Jonathan Archer." She announced. She had read in his memoirs that their relationship had often been frowned on, but Hernandez barely mentioned that. Maybe she didn't care as much that people frowned on them, it was obvious through the text that she thought the frat rules were unnecessary.

"I know who that is!" Tal smiled, clearly proud of herself for remembering that. Considering he was one of the Federation's first Presidents, it was good that she did. Janeway went back to reading, for about 30 seconds before the next question came. "Why are you reading her memoirs?"

"Because she was one of the reasons I wanted to explore when I was a child. She managed to not only have a very successful career, she and President Archer were in a relationship for most of their lives and had two children. When I first read her memoirs I was in middle school and I just found myself wanting to explore like she did, like she wanted future generations to do." The messages of peace and hope through the memoirs, and the colourful stories of the things her family were doing around her as she wrote things down made them more interesting to read than a dry story. "She inspired me, she still does."

Tal went quiet for a moment and looked at her hands. When she next looked up Janeway saw that instant of excitement pass over her features. At least she might get through to one of the ensigns on this trip. "Could I maybe borrow that from you Captain, when we get back to the ship?"

"Of course, Celes." Janeway smiled, looking back to the PADD where she'd stopped it, a picture of Hernandez and her young children, clearly from a political rally of some sort for her husband. They looked happy. Maybe when Voyager made it home she'd still have time to start a family. All she knew was that she'd filled that childhood dream out here. "She was a fascinating woman."

"She was a Captain?" Tal asked, sitting forward slightly. It was obvious she was truly interested in Janeway's tales of one of her childhood heroes.

"Yes, _Columbia_, NX-02. She was also involved in the entire NX programme, and a well respected linguist." It was amazing how many hats some of the old time Captains wore. They had so many specialties. Hernandez was a communications specialist, a linguist, and history showed she also had qualifications in piloting and engineering. One she got during the NX programme, the other she got after being promoted to Captaincy.

"And was married, and had children?" Tal asked, and Janeway nodded with another smile. It was a really exciting thing to see someone become interested in something new. Especially something she would then share with her Captain.

As for Hernandez being married, it wasn't that simple. "She didn't marry until after she'd completed her mission. It wouldn't have been possible in her time for her to be married. Not considering she was involved with a fellow Captain." How times had changed. Captains could marry captains now, anyone could marry anyone. The frat rules were so much less important now than ever before. "They married shortly before he was promoted to Admiral at the end of the Romulan War. Their first child followed a few months later." Neither of the Hernandez-Archer children had gone into Starfleet, nor into politics. There were apparently still a few of their descendants in Starfleet, but by this point it was so distant nobody spoke too much about it. Same as they didn't speak of the descendants of any other famous officers over the decades since Starfleet was founded. Janeway just had favourites.

"She was still in command?" Tal asked, and Janeway realised that, right now, it might just be best that she read it all for herself. She'd learn more that way.

"No. Here, I have another book to read." Janeway held the PADD out and "You make a start on this one. We'll talk more about Admiral Hernandez when you're done." She smiled, wiggling the PADD so that Tal would reach out and take it.

"Thank you, Captain." Tal smiled, holding the PADD tightly. Janeway would start reading Archer's memoirs just to keep that one story going. It was the way she generally read these two, one after the other. Tal would enjoy it and if it helped her see that, sometimes, people needed to struggle along a little before they found their footing, then all the better. It might give Tal something to strive for.


	2. Chapter 2

**OK. Once again another Voyager chapter, this one featuring Tal Celes, Billy Telfer and Gerron. The next chapter is a lot of Jon/Erika fluff, and is hinted at in this chapter. hope people enjoy!**

**Shin x**

* * *

Tal Celes almost dropped her fork as she read yet another incredible story in Admiral Hernandez' memoirs. It was hard to put it down when she got started, which was how she had ended up sat with Gerron eating and reading, she was missing her mouth as often as she was managing right now. It was hard to believe this was a real story not a movie. Hernandez had spoken at length in the early chapters of being from a working family on one of Earth's deserts. About how she had joined Starfleet to be able to go to college and study what she wanted. She had made the decision to join the space service even before Starfleet had been chartered, barely. It was inspirational, and hard to believe. "I still can't believe this woman."

"What?" Gerron asked, and she only just realised she'd spoken out loud. That certainly hadn't been her intention. She only did that because she was too amazed at what she was reading. She knew now why it had inspired the Captain so much.

It was inspiring Celes too. Sure, Hernandez hadn't come from a war-ravaged planet, but her story still inspired her. She had mentioned how terrible she was at science, how she had had to study for hours every night on the early NX Programme so she understood what was going on. Knowing that someone who had to study so much could go on spoke to Celes in many ways. "She came from a poor background and ended up married to the Federation President and was the Starfleet Chief of Staff."

"She's still talking about this?" Billy asked as he joined the two of them, sliding his try onto the table. Celes looked up and glared at him. She was going to stay on this topic now just because he was being stupid and it would prove him wrong.

Then Gerron spoke up, and Celes ended up glaring at them both. "I think she has a new hero."

"You two should read this." She held the PADD up with a grin, she really believed this could only be something good for the boys to learn about. "Captain Janeway was right, Admiral Hernandez is really quite fascinating." Celes had enjoyed not only learning about her early life, but the little insights into early Starfleet history. The stories from the NX Programme and the years before the Earth-Romulan War. The sadness in there where she spoke about her miscarriage and how her relationship had imploded shortly after that when President Archer had been promoted.

"Do you know her life story now?" Billy asked, and Gerron grunted to show he wanted to know the answer to that too. She didn't know the whole story yet, but the book was littered with pictures of Hernandez and her family. She didn't look how Celes had imagined her to. She was smaller. Her children were both adorable though.

She looked at the percentage read, and saw the little glowing 58% in the corner. So, not all of it, but more than half. "Not all of it, but I'm more than halfway through. I'm reading about the Earth-Romulan war right now." There had been some harrowing stories around that that had reminded Celes of Voyager after some of the battles with the Hirogen and the Malon. But there was still a happy ending. "Her ship was pretty badly attacked through it, but she kept going, and they made it home."

Gerron sat forward having finished his meal and being off duty now sat forward and looked at her seriously. "You're focusing on that part right now, aren't you?"

"Wouldn't you? They made it home." That bit was the bit that excited her the most. Hernandez had always brought her ship home. "She tells some funny stories through the memoirs about what her husband or her kids are doing while she's writing, her grandkids in a couple of spaces. It's sweet." The story she was reading right now was obviously written while she and her family were on Andoria, given the regular appearances of Ambassador Shran. It had concluded with Hernandez throwing one of her son's stuffed animals at her husband.

"Must be fun to read." Billy commented, a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he did. Celes just turned to glare at him, and Billy just smiled wider.

"It is, actually. I'm enjoying the story behind it." Most of the things Hernandez spoke about she only knew in the abstract. They didn't go into detail on the Romulan War, they didn't talk regularly about the Captains other than while they are being a Captain. She would have been more excited about Starfleet if she'd known a lot of this before she signed up. "This part of Starfleet history isn't even widely taught at the Academy any more. We learn about the ships, sure. But I didn't even know President Archer was married until the Captain mentioned it." That had been quite surprising to her, because she'd always imagined he'd had to be single considering the decisions he had to make. Learning he was married with a family surprised her. "Are most politicians married?" She finished, looking between her two dinner companions.

"I think it's as much personal choice as anything." Billy mused and then looked at her with a mischievous grin. "Maybe you just always assumed he wasn't."

"That would be a shocker, not." The sarcasm around the table was at breaking point, and Celes decided it was really time to move on before they imploded the universe.

So she looked back to the PADD and remembered the main lesson she was learning from this story. "Hey. Think it's nice to know that no matter what background you come from you can be as successful as she was." Hernandez was arguably one of the most accomplished Captains, and hardly anyone spoke about her. Her ship was almost destroyed six times over the course of the Romulan War. That was the record, and she'd managed to get home every time, and had gone on to become Chief of Staff. It was important.

"It's a good story, that's for sure." Gerron commented, and Celes realised he was still thinking about it as fiction.

"This is history. I'm going to make you both read this. You'll learn so much." She looked between the two of them and when there was no complaints she smiled and stood up, realising the time and the fact she due on duty. "I'm supposed to be in engineering, see you later."

"Bye." She heard chorused after her, and she just grinned to herself. She really didn't care if she was beginning to bore them with this, it didn't matter. Surely it was better than worrying about what Seven of Nine or Lieutenant Torres were going to say to her day after day. This was only an improvement, and for the first time in a long time she felt confident. It wouldn't last, but she was going to enjoy it while she could.


	3. Chapter 3

**And finally! The chapter you were waiting for! Hehe. A bit of very cute and fluffy SassCaptains... **

**Diolch mawr to my two fantastic regular reviewers. (No not you Icka.) Both of you have said the same thing about reading Erika's memoirs. I might have to go about writing them... somehow. Give me time I'll figure it out! This chapter is set in about 2169.**

**Shin x**

* * *

Erika Hernandez had been writing diary entries up every week for the last almost 40 years. Almost since she joined Starfleet. She had her logs too, they were daily, and she could listen to them in a few days and write up that week. All the while telling a story about what was happening with her family too. She really wanted to make her story fun and engaging, telling a modern story as well as telling her past.

She thought it was a cute idea, when she only had one baby and her husband was also in Starfleet and they lived on Earth. Now it was 6 years later, she lived on Andoria with her politician and her two children. She couldn't seem to stop telling the stories now, even though she was tired of some of the things she was writing. That was until she was handed her three year old unceremoniously and she was reminded how much fun she could have too. "Here, take him."

Even though she happily settled HC on her knee, she couldn't resist scolding Jon a little, she found it far too amusing when she did it. Mostly because his defenses made her laugh. "Jonathan, I'm trying to write up this week's entry." She complained, and Jon just nudged her gently then ruffled HC hair as Jon went back around sorting out whatever he needed before picking their eldest up.

"Your son wants mommy, that's more important." Jon called over his shoulder, and all Erika could do was look over at him with more than a little bit of annoyance. She wanted half an hour, that was it, but she did have a momma's boy for a son.

So she rubbed HC's tummy with a grin as the toddler giggled, then looked at her diary, the page half filled. At least she had just finished an anecdote when HC had been plonked on her lap. "I can do both, I guess." She mumbled against her son's cheek, wrapping her arms around him and kissing his cheek before giggling along with him.

After a few seconds Jon came up beside them again and looked at the same page she'd paused on. "Am I in that?" He asked after a few seconds, just long enough for him to realise the particular story she was on was about Veronica, but did not include him.

"We live together, we share a bed, we have two children and last night you had me pinned against the wall in your office." That was not what she needed to be thinking about while she was trying to write something up, but it jumped into her mind unbidden. "No you absolutely are not in it."

"Are you sassing me?" Jon asked with a smirk. Kneeling beside her and pressing a kiss to her cheek. Clearly Jon was feeling a little left out and ignored too, but she had a duty to pay attention to her son and not laughing at him. Jon didn't get that pass, and she was slowly but surely figuring out one perk of having children.

She turned her head gently and smirked. Of course she was, it was too hard. "Stupid question, tell daddy he's asking a stupid question." She whispered in HC's ear, regretting it almost immediately as he jumped up and down on her knee.

"Daddy it's a stupid question." Henry repeated still bouncing and clapping, then turned round still repeating 'stupid question' over and over.

Jon just began glaring at her, making her laugh even more. This whole day had been extremely typical of their daily life here on Andoria. While it wasn't exactly what she had had planned for her life, it was working well. When HC finally stopped shouting about the stupid question Jon looked at her seriously again, even though he was still fighting the giggles too. "Don't use the baby against me."

"This is the best part about having children, surely?" She asked with a grin as Jon sat forward and kissed her hard, before slipping back onto his haunches and looking at the three year old who was still bouncing on her knee in the toddler version of a dance, just without the shouting.

Jon, however, looked at her with a slightly sarcastic smile. "I thought we were supposed to enjoy being parents?"

"You were the one who wanted to be a parent." That was true enough. Jon had always been the one who wanted a family and kids and a big house and many dogs. For the moment they just had to two kids, and that was how it was staying, and one very old dog, though that might be changing soon. "I was indifferent and now I'm going to use our children against you whenever I get the chance." That was her perk of being a parent.

Jon had a fake shocked look that didn't fool her even a little. "Erika!"

"Don't even try it, go collect your daughter." She waved him off, grinning as he stood up and pouted, giving their eight year old daughters' a run for her money. At least Erika learnt where Serena had gained that particular trait from. "HC and I are going to write mommy's diary then we're going to play some soccer, aren't we?"

"Yeah!"

"We need to write this first, we can cuddle and write though." She continued talking to HC, letting Jon do whatever he was doing and pretending to ignore him entirely.

"You enjoy this too much." Jon commented after a few seconds, and all she felt she needed to do was smirk.

"Go collect Serena, plus your work boyfriend will be looking for you soon."

"My work boyfriend is already at the door." Jon commented and Erika looked round then waved at Shran, turning back to the table a moment later, trying to focus herself again. "She's writing her diary."

"Am I in it?" Shran asked with one of his crooked grins that Erika had come to realise over the years signified his special brand of teasing sarcasm. It had taken Shran many years to grasp human humour, but now he had it Erika found herself appreciating his dry humour all the more.

"No. Right now you are both lucky I'm not throwing things at you."

Jon just looked at her seriously and smirked. She knew what was coming before he even said a word. "That would not be new."

"Go pick up your daughter!" She laughed, throwing one of the soft toys on the desk at him.

"Go pick up Rena, daddy!" HC shouted at his father, this time completely without Erika's prompting, and she just smiled even more widely at her husband, who looked like he was about to rebel completely. She had to refrain from laughing.

"You're being ordered now by the one who outranks all of us." She then nodded at the youngest member of the family, and currently the youngest Human on Andoria, who definitely had the ability to make sure his parents did whatever he wanted them to do.

"Fine, fine. I'm going. We'll be back soon." He jogged over to them and ran his hand through Henry's hair.

Henry bounced a little on her knee, and all she could do was laugh a little. HC, at least, seemed to be in a good mood, which was quite unusual when he'd woken up from a nap. "Bye daddy!"

"Bye champ. Bye you." Jon leant down and kissed her gently, then grinned and kissed Henry too. It was nice for them to have this moment without the demanding 8 year old wanting attention too. She loved her family, but she did miss having alone time with Jon.

"I'll bye you in a moment." She jokingly threatened, pressing her cheek to Jon's for a second as he stood beside her. She didn't have enough time to spend just doing this daily routine with Jon and the kids. One or the other of them was always too busy.

"I love you too." He smiled and kissed her again then jogged back to the door, Erika just sat and watched the two of them leave, then gave Henry a squeeze. She wanted to get her week written up in her diary. She had every intention, one day, of writing this all up as her memoirs, but she needed to get it all written out. At least Henry was happy to play with his teddy in her arms, that was giving her the break she needed to write it all out, then she would be able to do something else. She could tell this story too.

_'Shran and Jon are both very curious about whether they are included in this book. It makes them very annoying about half the time. They ask me every day...'_


End file.
